“Polish spies live through and document the final days of the Third Reich in this harrowing debut account. Drawing on declassified OSS reports and decades of archival research, historian Micgiel pieces together the story of Project Eagle, a little-known Polish contribution to the Allied victory… The spies’ post-mission briefings, published here in full, read like dispatches from hell. It’s an invaluable glimpse of the Third Reich’s demise.”

– Publishers Weekly

“These reports on a relatively small part of the war offer a glimpse of the problems and successes of inserting agents into enemy territory. Recommended for large World War II collections.”

– Library Journal

Project Eagle, by the Columbia historian John Micgiel, tells the previously unknown history of a group of 40 Polish brave and dedicated agents who were parachuted into Nazi Germany during the last weeks of World War II to gather information to aid the Allied advance. The book advances our understanding of wartime intelligence goals and methods and of the history of the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in particular. It demonstrates again the crucial role that Polish military formations played in the ultimate victory in Europe. And it tells the stories of the individual Polish participants made possible only by Micgiel's skillful and thoroughgoing archival research.

– Norman M. Naimark, Robert & Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies, Stanford University

“Laudably lifted from obscurity, Project Eagle: The Top-Secret OSS Operation That Sent Polish Spies behind Enemy Lines in World War II is detailed history of a behind-the-lines intelligence operation that made significant contributions to the eventual Allied victory in the European Theatre of World War II. Enhanced for the benefit of the reader with the inclusion of four Appendices, twenty-six pages of Notes, a ten-page Bibliography, and a six-page Index, this edition of Project Eagle from Stackpole Books is a superbly crafted and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and college/university library World War II history collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.”

– Midwest Book Review

John Micgiel’s fascinating work reconstructs the quite-unknown adventure of the Poles who had been forced to serve in German ranks during World War II but, eventually, were able to join the Western Allies for intelligence work behind German lines, “Operation Eagle.” Obviously, this is an adventure that recounts Polish patriotism and the Allies' frequent negligence. Complex, detailed, and only made comprehensible by extraordinary efforts, Micgiel has accomplished this unprecedented analysis by consulting a great array of primary materials: archives in four countries, a vast collection of multi-lingual materials, and exhaustive mining of the internet. We knew virtually nothing of this complex act of Polish Romanticism; now we have it in detail.

– Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski Ph.D., Central Connecticut State University, Endowed Chair in Polish History

Project Eagle tells the previously unknown history of a group of forty brave and dedicated Polish agents who were parachuted into Nazi Germany during the last weeks of World War II to gather information to aid the Allied advance. The book advances our understanding of wartime intelligence goals and methods and of the history of the American OSS in particular. It demonstrates again the crucial role that Polish military formations played in the ultimate victory in Europe. And it tells the stories of the individual Polish participants made possible only by Micgiel's skillful and thoroughgoing archival research.

– Norman M. Naimark, Robert & Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies, Stanford University

“If you are interested in intelligence, SOE & escape & evasion stories then this is definitely one for you. I for one have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

– History Book Chat